Darlington getting the tributes it deserves

THE ANNUAL Sprint Cup race at Darlington Raceway is always a highlight, because the South Carolina racetrack drips with history the way thick, tasty sauce clings to quality barbecue.

Darlington was NASCAR's first superspeedway. Harold Brasington, a former racer, built the egg-shaped, 1.366-mile track on a former cotton and peanut field in his hometown. The raceway was the first paved superspeedway (longer than a mile).

The track is egg-shaped, because Brasington promised the farmer he bought the land from he would not disturb the farmer's minnow pond on the property's western end. We are not making this up!

For the inaugural Southern 500 in 1950, the nation's first 500-mile race for street-legal family sedans, 75 cars were entered with the drivers competing for a then-record purse of $25,000. Johnny Mantz won the race, which lasted more than six hours.

Unlike younger athletes in some sports, each generation of racers understands and honors what Darlington means to racing.

Darlington is even more important this year, because the race has returned to its traditional Labor Day weekend date. NBC is televising the race Sunday, starting at 7 p.m. In recent years, Darlington races have been in April and May.

Thirty-two teams are paying tribute to the "The Track Too Tough to Tame" with throwback paint schemes on their cars. Aric Almirola will drive the familiar Petty blue-and-red No. 43 Ford, honoring Richard Petty's 1972 Plymouth. Other throwback paint schemes include Dale Earnhardt Jr., with Cale Yarborough's Buick markings that won the 1982 Southern 500; Brad Keselowski, with Bobby Allison's 1983 championship Ford; and Clint Bowyer, Buddy Baker's 1974 Ford.

Fans can participate in choosing the best paint scheme at nascar.com/DarlingtonVote.

Fourteen NASCAR Hall of Famers will attend the race, including Richard Petty, Junior Johnson, Bobby Allison, Ned and Dale Jarrett, Bill Elliott, Rusty Wallace and Terry Labonte. Regrettably, David Pearson, 80, a South Carolina native who is the all-time Cup series winner at Darlington with 10, is unable to attend.

Kyle Petty, a retired driver now an analyst for NBC Sports, has been coming to Darlington since he was a child.

"There are places that you go in sports, whether it be Augusta or Churchill Downs or the old Boston Garden, that evoke the history and the ghosts of the guys who came before you, and Darlington is that place," Petty said. "It's still the same old racetrack that my granddad drove around 50, 60 years ago, the exact same place. If it gets hot, it's going to feel about exactly the same place as it did for those guys today. So I was ecstatic when they moved it back to Labor Day.

"The pecking order of races, for me it was always Daytona, the Southern 500 and then the Coca-Cola 600 [at Charlotte]. Those are the three big races, and I know we have races now [such as the Brickyard at Indianapolis], but from the traditional, from the history of the sport [those three stand out]."

Petty is excited about Darlington and Labor Day, even though, as a racer: "I had no success there. You may remember, Darlington was a place that I said, 'Fill it with water and have stadium bath sessions.' That was my thing to do with Darlington."

Jeff Burton, is his first year as an NBC analyst after winning 21 Cup races, also attended Darlington races as a child. Burton "fondly" recalls his first race as a rookie racer in 1994.

"The goal of the rookie meeting was to scare the hell out of you," Burton said. "In so many words, they told you if you did it wrong, you were going to die. They tried to scare you to make you understand how difficult the racetrack was, and you left that meeting extremely intimidated. Very few times in my life have I been scared, [but] I actually left that rookie meeting like scared."

Burton couldn't have been too frightened: He finished eighth.

For Sunday night's race, NASCAR will be using a low-downforce package, aimed at increasing passing opportunities, with tires specifically designed for Darlington.

"This is what the drivers have been asking for for a long time," Burton said. "They've been wanting a tire that makes a lot more grip and less downforce [so] lack of downforce [doesn't] hurt you when you're around other cars.

"In theory, it's a great idea. Everybody has told me that this tire was probably almost a second faster than the tire that was originally slated to run there. Then you take the downforce off and speeds are going to be similar.

"Drivers have been wanting fall off. They want the car to take off fast and then slow down as the run goes on to give an opportunity for someone to have an advantage, so that if you're in fifth and on a long run, your car is better, you can ultimately catch somebody and pass them and not be hampered by the downforce coming from the other car.

"I think this racetrack is the perfect racetrack for it, because historically the asphalt is rough there, and it wears the tires out. This tire is going to wear out, and I think it has a lot of promise."

Sunday night of Labor Day weekend in Darlington: It doesn't get any better for racin' fans.

Bojangles' Southern 500

Darlington Raceway, Darlington, S.C.

When: Sunday, 7 p.m.

TV/Radio: NBC10/WNPV (1440-AM)

Course: 1.366-mile oval

Distance: 367 laps/501.3 miles

Forecast: chance of showers, mid-80s

Last year's winner: Kevin Harvick

Last year's pole: Harvick 183.479 mph (track qualifying record)

Track facts: In winning last year's race, Kevin Harvick led seven times for 238 laps, by far the most laps. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was second, Jimmie Johnson was third ... Jeff Gordon, winless this year, leads active drivers with seven wins at Darlington (last W, 2007). With two races remaining before the Chase begins, Gordon is 52 points above the cutoff line for the 16-driver Chase field. This year, Gordon has three top-five finishes among his 12 top-10s ... Jimmie Johnson is a three-time winner at Darlington ... Brad Keselowski hasn't won since California in March, but in his last six races, he has two runner-up finishes and four top-10s ... Carl Edwards has top-10 finishes in his last four races.

Wins: Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch, 4 each, Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano, 3 each; Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr., 2 each; Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Martin Truex Jr., 1 each.

STANDINGS

1. Kevin Harvick ... 908

2. Joey Logano ... 865

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. ... 819

4. Brad Keselowski ... 793

5. Jimmie Johnson ... 792

6. Martin Truex Jr. ... 771

7. Matt Kenseth ... 753

8. Kurt Busch ... 713

9. Denny Hamlin ... 712

10. Jamie McMurray ... 696

11. Ryan Newman ... 683

12. Paul Menard ... 674

13. Jeff Gordon ... 672

14. Carl Edwards ... 666

15. Clint Bowyer ... 655

16. Aric Almirola ... 620

17. Kasey Kahne ... 618

18. Greg Biffle ... 572

19. Austin Dillon ... 564

20. Kyle Larson ... 551

Up next: Federated Auto Parts 400, Sept. 12, Richmond International Raceway, Richmond, Va., 7:30 p.m.; TV: NBCSN; last year's winner: Brad Keselowski.